Jr  -  I 


r 


-\ 


THE  UPRISING  OF  MEN  FOR  WORLD 

CONQUEST. 

By  Samuel  B.  Capen,  Chairman  Executive 

Committee. 

On  November  13th  and  14th,  1906,  there  was  held 
in  the  Fifth  Avenue  Presbyterian  Church  in  New 
York  City  an  interdenominational  meeting  in  com¬ 
memoration  of  the  centennial  of  the  Haystack  Prayer 
Meeting.  On  the  afternoon  and  evening  following, 
November  15th,  a  company  of  laymen  met  in  the 
chapel  of  the  same  church,  the  invitation  to  this  meet¬ 
ing  being  in  the  form  of  a  '‘Call  to  Prayer.”  As  a 
result  of  that  meeting  the  Laymen’s  Missionary 
Movement  was  organized.  The  following  preamble 
and  resolutions  were  adopted  and  a  committee  ap¬ 
pointed  : 

Whereas ,  in  the  marvelous  Providence  of  God  the 
One  LIundredth  Anniversary  of  the  beginnings  of  the 
American  Foreign  Missionary  movement  finds  the 
doors  of  every  nation  open  to  the  gospel  message, 
and 

Whereas ,  the  machinery  of  the  missionary  boards, 
women’s  boards,  student  and  young  people’s  mission¬ 
ary  movements  is  highly  and  efficiently  organized, 
and 

Whereas,  the  greatly  increased  participation  of  the 
present  generation  of  responsible  Christian  business 
and  professional  men  is  essential  to  the  widest  and 
most  productive  use  of  the  existing  missionary 
agencies,  and  is  equally  vital  to  the  growth  of  the 
spiritual  life  at  home,  and 

Whereas,  in  the  management  of  large  business  and 
political  responsibilities,  such  men  have  been  greatly 
used  and  honored,  and 

Whereas,  in  but  few  of  the  denominations  have  ag¬ 
gressive  movements  to  interest  men  in  missions  been 
undertaken ; 


2  The  Uprising  of  Men  for  World  Conquest 

Therefore  be  it  resolved,  that  this  gathering  of  lay¬ 
men,  called  together  for  prayer  and  conference  on  the 
occasion  of  the  centennial  anniversary  of  the  Hay¬ 
stack  Prayer  Meeting,  designate  a  committee  of 
twenty-five  or  more  representative  laymen  to  consult 
with  the  secretaries  of  the  missionary  boards  of  all 
the  denominations  in  the  United  States  and  Canada,  if 
possible  at  their  annual  gathering  in  January,  with 
reference  to  the  following  vitally  important  proposi¬ 
tions  : 

1.  To  project  a  campaign  of  education  among  lay¬ 
men  to  be  conducted  under  the  direction  of  the  va¬ 
rious  Boards. 

2.  To  devise  a  comprehensive  plan  (in  conjunc¬ 
tion  with  said  Board  secretaries)  looking  toward  the 
evangelization  of  the  world  in  this  generation. 

3.  To  endeavor  to  form,  through  the  various 
Boards,  a  Centennial  Commission  of  Laymen,  fifty  or 
more  in  number,  to  visit  as  early  as  possible  the  mis¬ 
sion-fields  and  report  their  findings  to  the  church  at 
home. 

In  January,  1907,  at  the  annual  conference  of  the 
Foreign  Missions  Boards  of  the  United  States  and 
Canada,  its  business  committee  made  a  report,  the 
opening  paragraphs  of  which  are  as  follows : 

In  behalf  of  the  representatives  of  the  Foreign  Mis¬ 
sions  Boards  of  the  United  States  and  Canada,  in 
conference  assembled,  in  the  city  of  Philadelphia, 
January  9,  1907,  we  earnestly  express  our  apprecia¬ 
tion  of  the  Laymen’s  Missionary  Movement  as  out¬ 
lined  by  Mr.  Samuel  B.  Capen,  who  represents  in  his 
communication  a  large  number  of  Christian  business 
men  who  are  profoundly  interested  in,  and  committed 
to  the  enterprise  of  the  evangelization  of  the  world 
in  this  generation. 

We  recognize  this  movement  as  providential,  hav¬ 
ing  been  born  of  prayer  and  of  the  Spirit.  In  its 


The  Uprising  of  Men  for  AVorld  Conquest  3 

spontaneity  and  timeliness  it  gives  evidence  of  the 
hand  of  God,  and  we  are  profoundly  convinced  that 
this  is  but  another  step  in  advance  toward  the  com¬ 
pletion  of  His  great  purpose  in  the  redemption  of 
mankind. 

This  report  was  unanimously  adopted. 

WHY. 

In  considering  this  new  movement,  the  first  inquiry 
is  why  it  should  be  organized.  With  the  present  mul¬ 
tiplicity  of  societies  and  organizations,  there  ought  to 
be  a  great  necessity  to  warrant  the  establishment  of 
another.  Any  man  to-day  has  a  right  to  challenge 
any  new  organization  which  presents  itself.  My  first 
answer,  therefore,  to  the  why  is : 

First,  because  of  the  inadequacy  of  the  present 
scope  and  extent  of  missionary  work.  In  making  this 
statement  I  am  not  failing  to  recognize  the  great  work 
that  has  already  been  accomplished.  The  success  of 
modern  missions  has  been  one  of  the  great  triumphs 
of  the  centuries.  We  have  planted  Christian  churches 
and  schools  and  colleges  and  hospitals  and  printing 
plants  and  have  transformed  nations.  The  success 
of  this  work  challenges  the  admiration  of  all  familiar 
with  it.  Nevertheless  it  must  be  acknowledged  that 
this  represents  the  work  of  only  a  small  minority  of 
our  church  members.  It  is  believed  that  not  more 
than  one-fourth  of  the  Christians  in  this  country 
make  an  offering  to  foreign  missions  worthy  of  the 
name.  I  am  not  claiming  that  a  larger  proportion 
than  this  do  not  give  a  nickel  or  a  dime  or  some  in¬ 
significant  trifle,  but  I  believe  that  no  larger  propor¬ 
tion  than  I  have  stated  give  for  foreign  missions  at 
all  in  proportion  to  their  ability.  That  this  is  true  is 
evident  when  we  note  the  small  average  of  the  gift 
per  member  in  any  of  our  denominations.  One  of 
our  Boards  has  reached  an  average  of  $2  per  mem- 


4  The  Uprising  of  Men  for  World  Conquest 


ber,  one  or  two  others  about  $i  per  member,  but  with 
others  the  average  is  less  than  one-half  of  this  smaller 
amount.  Is  it  not  pitiable,  nineteen  centuries  after 
the  cross  of  Christ,  for  us  to  be  obliged  to  acknowl¬ 
edge  that  we  are  giving  on  an  average  less  than  half  a 
cent  a  day  to  evangelize  the  world? 

What  makes  it  especially  reprehensible  is  the  fact 
that  we  have  grown  so  enormously  rich.  It  is  not 
necessary  for  me  here  to  repeat  figures  that  have  been 
given  again  and  again,  and  which  show  that  we  have 
an  amount  of  wealth  in  our  possession  which  a  gen¬ 
eration  or  two  ago  would  have  been  considered  fabu¬ 
lous.  We  cannot  have  any  patience  with  a  man  who 
argues  that  we  cannot  afiford  to  do  many  times  what 
we  are  doing  now.  We  have  the  money  in  our  pock¬ 
ets.  There  is  a  perfect  mine  of  wealth  in  the  posses¬ 
sion  of  the  rich  and  of  those  of  moderate  means  alike, 
which  is  as  yet  untouched.  It  is  not  a  question  of 
can  cr  cannot ,  it  is  a  question  of  will  or  will  not.  Am 
I  not  right  in  saying,  therefore,  that  we  need  to  sup¬ 
plement  our  present  methods  with  something  else  in 
order  that  we  may  more  speedily  evangelize  the  na¬ 
tions?  This  is  the  primary  purpose  of  the  new 
movement. 

Second.  The  second  reason  for  this  new  movement 
is  the  indifference  to  all  foreign  missionary  zuork  of 
very  many  in  pews  and  pulpits  alike.  There  are  too 
many  who  care  nothing  v/hatever  for  any  missions 
anywhere.  Some  of  these  can  be  appealed  to  through 
patriotic  motives  for  work  in  our  home  land  and 
through  self-interest  for  city  missionary  work.  But 
for  w^ork  for  people  thousands  of  miles  away,  people 
whom  they  have  never  seen  and  never  expect  to  see, 
for  this  they  have  not  the  slightest  interest  whatever. 
The  missionary  message  so  far  has  not  touched  multi¬ 
tudes  of  men  in  our  churches,  the  very  ones  this 
movement  is  designed  to  reach. 


The  Uprising  of  Men  for  World  Conquest  5 


The  experience  of  the  past  three  years  of  the  Lay¬ 
men’s  Missionary  Movement  proves  that  men  can  be 
interested  deeply  in  this  subject  if  proper  methods 
of  education  and  enlistment  are  adopted. 

Third.  We  need  a  great  campaign  of  education  be¬ 
cause  many  people  do  not  consider  proper  proportion 
in  their  various  gifts.  We  rejoice  in  the  great  bene¬ 
factions  for  secular  education  and  philanthropy  here 
at  home,  but  the  foreign  missionary  appeal  is  too 
often  forgotten.  There  are  resources  enough  for  all. 
Thousands  of  men  are  making  their  personal  appeal 
for  various  enterprises,  many  of  them  good  in  them¬ 
selves,  but  in  no  sense  comparable  in  importance  with 
the  missionary  appeal.  I  was  present  a  little  time  ago 
in  a  great  metropolitan  church,  where  I  saw  in  the 
book-rack  a  pledge  card  with  a  list  of  the  benevolent 
offerings  in  that  church,  and  there  were  twenty-one 
objects  included  upon  that  card.  Furthermore,  there 
was  nothing  to  emphasize  the  six  missionary  societies 
of  that  denomination  or  to  distinguish  them  in  any 
way  from  the  other  fifteen.  In  other  words,  the  regu¬ 
lar  missionary  work  of  the  Congregational  churches 
had  to  compete  in  the  house  of  God  with  fifteen  other 
causes.  Another  church  near  my  home  has  about 
twenty-five  in  its  list.  Certainly  the  time  has  fully 
come  to  adopt  some  new  plans  which  shall  give  proper 
place  and  emphasis  to  the  regular  missionary  work  of 
our  churches.  In  our  new  movement  we  want  to 
make  it  clear  to  all  that  missions  are  the  supreme 
work  of  the  church,  and  that  money  given  for  work 
abroad  inevitably  tends  to  help  and  not  hinder  gen¬ 
erous  gifts  at  home. 

Fourth.  We  should  recognize  as  never  before  the 
world-ivide  opportunity.  The  doors  are  open  all  over 
the  world  and  the  commercial  traveler  is  entering 
everywhere.  Is  it  to  be  an  open  door  for  all  kinds 
of  business  and  a  closed  door  for  the  Gospel  of 


6  The  Uprising  of  Men  for  World  Conquest 


Christ?  The  element  of  time  in  all  this  work  is  vital. 
In  non-Christian  countries  which  have  come  into 
touch  with  the  western  world  and  its  civilization,  the 
people  arc  giving  up  their  old  forms  of  religion.  Un¬ 
less  we  give  them  something  better  they  will  drift  in¬ 
evitably,  as  hundreds  of  thousands  of  them  are  doing, 
into  agnosticism.  Again  we  have  in  Africa  the  Mo¬ 
hammedan  peril.  Many  of  the  tribes  are  giving  up 
their  old  heathen  customs  and  are  being  captured  by 
the  Moslem  faith.  If  they  adopt  this,  it  will  be  harder 
for  us  then  to  reach  them  v/ith  Christianity  than  when 
they  were  in  heathen  darkness.  The  rapid  changes 
in  the  Far  East  the  last  few  years  present  not  only 
many  opportunities  but  also  wonderful  possibilities. 
Our  business  men  must  have  that  broader  vision  that 
takes  in  the  whole  world. 

Fifth.  Our  own  spiritual  safety  requires  a  more 
vigorous  missionary  campaign.  It  must  be  most  dis¬ 
pleasing  to  Christ,  when  he  has  done  so  much  for 
us,  to  see  us  so  selfish  and  unwilling  to  give  as  freely 
as  we  have  received.  In  our  great  material  prosperity 
the  only  thing  that  will  save  our  nation  from  the  sins 
of  luxury  and  vice,  which  always  accompany  such 
conditions,  is  to  use  our  wealth  and  opportunities  for 
the  saving  of  others.  “The  heathen  are  saving  the 
church,”  is  the  significant  title  of  a  recent  address  by 
Bishop  Lawrence.  We  might  go  even  farther  and 
say  that  the  heathen  must  save  the  nation.  America 
must  do  her  share  to  save  the  world  if  she  would  save 
herself,  and  our  laymen  have  it  in  their  power  now  to 
turn  the  current  of  thought  in  the  churches  to  these 
higher  things.  We  want  also  to  save  men  and  then 
we  shall  have  their  gifts. 

Sixth.  A  proper  recognition  and  appreciation  of 
the  brave  men  who  represent  us  at  the  front  demand 
that  we  do  far  more  than  we  are  doing  now  to  support 
them.  We  are  practically  starving  them  out  and 


The  Uprising  of  Men  for  World  Conquest  7 


crippling  them  for  the  want  of  supplies  and  proper 
reinforcements.  Only  in  missions  is  there  failure  to 
press  with  energy  and  enterprise  every  advantage. 

Seventh.  We  need  a  great  addition  to  the  Christian 
educational  institutions  abroad,  in  order  to  train  more 
rapidly  native  teachers  and  preachers.  We  need  more 
hospitals  and  more  printing  and  industrial  plants.  As 
we  have  been  going  on  the  last  few  years,  no  one  of 
our  missionary  boards  out  of  its  regular  income  can 
supply  these  needs.  We  want  what  President  King  of 
Oberlin  has  called  ‘'capitalistic  statesmen.” 

WHAT  THE  MOVEMENT  IS  NOT. 

(1)  It  is  not  a  new  Missionary  Board  to  collect 
funds  or  to  administer  them;  it  is  not  to  raise  up  or 
to  send  out  missionaries;  it  is  not  to  work  among 
young  people,  students  or  women ;  but  its  work  is  to 
be  chiefly  among  the  mature  men  of  the  church. 

(2)  It  is  not  an  interdenominational  movement 
which  proposes  to  do  its  work  outside  of  regular  de¬ 
nominational  lines  or  to  make  a  new  Missionary 
Brotherhood  independent  of  those  already  established. 

WHAT  IT  IS. 

In  the  spirit  of  the  declaration  of  principles  already 
given,  it  is  first  a  ‘‘movement.”  I  have  always  liked 
the  word.  It  expresses  life,  energy,  progress.  It  rep¬ 
resents  something  not  necessarily  bound  to  old  tradi¬ 
tions  and  certainly  something  that  does  not  run  in 
ruts.  It  is  a  dynamo  giving  added  force  and  power 
to  existing  machinery.  It  is  a  promoting  agency  to 
facilitate  work  already  under  way.  We  want  to  cre¬ 
ate,  if  possible,  a  tremendous  energy  which  shall  be 
felt  through  all  our  churches. 

Second.  It  is  a  “missionary  movement.”  It  has  a 
great  ideal,  namely,  to  reach  the  whole  world  in  this 
generation.  It  recognizes  the  fact  that  the  church  has 


8  The  Uprising  of  Men  for  World  Conquest 


been  in  the  “retail  business”  long  enough.  It  is  a 
challenge  for  something  larger  and  more  far-reach¬ 
ing.  Its  broad  statesmanship  will  appeal  to  men.  Its 
purpose  is  to  do  the  largest  thing  of  which  anyone  has 
any  conception — “to  devise  a  comprehensive  plan  (in 
conjunction  with  said  Board  secretaries)  looking  to¬ 
ward  the  evangelization  of  the  world  in  this  genera¬ 
tion.”  It  is  to  ask  the  men  of  this  generation  not  to 
pass  their  own  work  on  to  future  generations,  but  to 
do  it  themselves,  now. 

Third.  It  is  a  “ laymen’s  missionary  movement.”  It 
is  intended  for  the  mature  men  of  this  generation  who 
are  in  the  thick  of  the  fight.  It  is  not  an  appeal  to 
students  or  to  women  and  young  people ;  the  special 
work  for  these  classes  belongs  to  other  organizations ; 
it  is  an  appeal  to  the  mature  men  of  to-day  who  now 
have  in  hand  the  money  which  they  can  give  if  they 
will,  and  who  can  moreover  give  their  time  and 
thought  and  prayer  to  the  work. 

Fourth.  It  is  an  effort  to  get  the  denominations  at 
home  to  work  more  closely  together  than  ever  before. 
It  is  well  understood  that  there  is  a  closer  harmony 
of  work  on  the  mission  field  than  here  in  the  home¬ 
land.  This  plan  will  appeal  to  the  business  men  of 
to-day.  It  is  in  harmony  with  modern  methods  in 
the  business  world.  We  want  to  utilize  the  principles 
of  legitimate  promoting.  Together  is  the  twentieth 
century  watchword. 

THE  PLAN  AND  METHODS  OF  WORK. 

The  General  Committee  of  the  Movement  consists 
of  more  than  one  hundred  men — who  meet  semi-an¬ 
nually.  The  Executive  Committee  consists  of  twenty- 
one  men,  fifteen  of  them  residents  of  New  York  and 
vicinity,  two  from  Washington,  one  from  Boston  and 
three  from  Canada.  This  Committee  meets  monthly 


The  Uprising  of  Men  for  World  Conquest  9 


in  the  city  of  New  York.  Mr.  J.  Campbell  White  is 
the  General  Secretary. 

First.  W e  are  using  our  influence  to  have  organ¬ 
ized  in  every  city  and  large  center  of  population,  an 
Interdenominationl  Co-operating  Committee  of  the 
Laymen’s  Missionary  Movement,  to  promote  an  ag¬ 
gressive  and  adequate  missionary  policy  in  all  the 
churches  in  its  district. 

Second.  We  urge  this  Interdenominational  Co-oper¬ 
ating  Committee,  so  far  as  possible,  to  secure  in  each 
local  church  the  appointment  of  a  Missionary  Commit¬ 
tee  that  shall  be  pledged  to  care  for  foreign  mission¬ 
ary  interests,  working  always  in  harmony  with  pas¬ 
tors  and  church  officers. 

Third.  We  would  encourage  these  Missionary 
Committees  by  a  comprehensive  and  thorough  educa¬ 
tional  policy  to  endeavor  to  reach  all  the  men  in  their 
own  local  churches.  We  are  seeking  to  bring  about 
more  than  ever  before,  what  has  been  called  “applied 
personality.” 

Fourth.  We  believe  the  time  has  fully  come  to  be 
more  systematic  in  securing  our  missionary  offerings. 
They  should  be  considered  more  and  more  as  a  sac¬ 
rament;  men  should  be  asked  to  give  definite  pledges 
of  money  worthy  of  themselves  and  of  the  present 
day  opportunities  and  of  the  Master  whom  we  serve. 

Fifth.  We  hope  to  reach  and  utilize  existing 
Church  Clubs,  Brotherhoods,  Bible  Classes,  etc.,  many 
of  which  have  been  organized  largely  for  social  pur¬ 
poses.  What  the  men  to-day  need  is  something  that 
calls  for  service. 

In  brief,  we  are  using  our  influence  so  far  as  pos¬ 
sible  to  have  in  each  church  (A)  a  Missionary  Com¬ 
mittee;  (B)  a  campaign  of  missionary  education;  (C) 
a  thorough  canvass  of  the  entire  Church  membership 
in  order  to  secure  some  worthy  offering  for  missions 
from  every  one;  and  (D)  the  adoption,  wherever  pos- 


io  The  Uprising  of  Men  for  World  Conquest 


sible,  of  the  Weekly  Missionary  Offering  as  scrip¬ 
tural,  systematic  and  effective.  We  desire  to  see  the 
missionary  work  of  the  whole  church  put  upon  the 
same  adequate,  permanent  and  business  basis  as  that 
of  the  current  expenses  of  the  local  churches. 

SOME  RESULTS  OF  THE  MOVEMENT. 

First.  Missionaries  all  over  the  non-Christian  world 
have  been  greatly  encouraged  by  this  uprising  of  lay¬ 
men  in  behalf  of  missions.  In  many  cases  they  are 
holding  on  to  fields  that  would  have  been  given  up  for 
lack  of  workers  and  funds,  had  they  not  been  cheered 
by  the  evidences  of  quickening  interest  among  the  men 
of  the  home  churches. 

Second.  The  Laymen’s  Movement  has  discovered 
the  great  advantage  of  presenting  the  missionary  op¬ 
portunity  and  duty  of  the  church  to  the  representative 
Christian  men  of  a  whole  city  or  state,  without  regard 
to  the  particular  branch  of  the  church  with  which  the 
men  are  identified.  This  encourages  a  comprehensive 
study  of  the  missionary  problem.  It  also  strikingly 
exhibits  the  small  proportion  of  any  city’s  offerings 
which  are  devoted  to  evangelizing  the  non-Christian 
world.  During  the  last  three  years  no  other  Chris¬ 
tian  agency  in  North  America  has  been  so  successful 
as  the  Laymen’s  Movement  in  bringing  together  large 
numbers  of  strong,  mature  men,  to  consider  their  re¬ 
sponsibility  for  extending  the  Kingdom  of  Christ. 
Successful  meetings  have  been  held  in  scores  of  large 
cities  in  all  parts  of  the  United  States  and  Canada. 
Two  great  state  conventions  were  held  in  the  Spring 
of  1909,  one  at  Minneapolis,  Minn.,  and  one  at  Des 
Moines,  la.  At  each  of  these  Conventions  policies 
were  adopted  looking  toward  the  enlistment  of  far 
more  men  in  the  work  of  world-evangelization. 

Third.  Denominational  Work.  Simultaneous  with 


The  Uprising  of  Men  for  World  Conquest  n 


this  work  in  the  cities  and  by  states,  the  men  have  been 
organized  in  several  of  the  denominations  and  the 
officers  of  our  Movement  have  been  the  helpers  in  all 
such  organizations. 

One  of  the  first  denominational  movements  to  be 
organized  was  in  the  Presbyterian  Church  South,  with 
Mr.  Charles  A.  Rowland  of  Georgia,  one  of  the 
members  of  our  General  Committee,  as  chairman  of 
their  Executive  Committee.  They  held  a  convention 
at  Birmingham,  Alabama,  lasting  three  days,  with 
over  a  thousand  delegates  present.  This  Conference 
accepted  and  endorsed  the  standard  of  an  average 
of  $4.00  per  member  to  foreign  missions,  and  in  each 
Presbytery  the  stronger  churches  are  urged  to  make 
larger  gifts  to  make  good  any  deficiencies  from  the 
smaller  and  weaker  churches.  This  Movement  em¬ 
ploys  two  secretaries  to  give  their  whole  time  to  the 
work. 

The  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  South  has  organ¬ 
ized  with  Mr.  John  R.  Pepper  of  Nashville,  Tenn., 
another  member  of  our  General  Committee,  as  its 
chairman.  They  held  a  convention  at  Chattanooga, 
Tenn.,  attended  by  about  one  thousand  men.  They 
have  set  as  their  financial  goal  the  increase  of  their 
missionary  offerings  from  $750,000  to  $3,000,000  an¬ 
nually.  This  Movement  employs  a  General  Secre¬ 
tary. 

The  General  Conference  of  the  Methodist  Episco¬ 
pal  Church  which  met  in  Baltimore  in  May,  1908, 
endorsed  the  Movement  and  provided  for  the  organ¬ 
ization  of  a  Methodist  Laymen’s  Missionary  Move¬ 
ment.  They  also  voted  to  increase  their  scale  of  giv¬ 
ing  to  foreign  missions  from  $2,000,000  in  1908  to 
$6,000,000  annually  by  1912.  The  Methodist  Lay¬ 
men’s  Movement  employs  two  Secretaries. 

Great  conventions  of  men  connected  with  the  Pres¬ 
byterian  Church  North  have  also  been  held  at  Omaha 


12  The  Uprising  of  Men  for  World  Conquest 


and  at  Philadelphia  under  the  leadership  of  the  For¬ 
ward  Movement.  In  both  of  these  conventions  recom¬ 
mendations  were  passed  that  the  offerings  of  their 
entire  denomination  be  increased  to  an  average  of 
$5.00  a  member  for  foreign  missions,  which  would 
be  more  than  quadrupling  their  present  gifts.  The 
Southern  Baptist  Church  and  the  Reformed  Church 
of  the  United  States  have  each  organized  a  Laymen’s 
Missionary  Movement,  and  each  employs  a  Secretary 
to  devote  his  time  to  the  organization  and  extension  of 
the  work.  The  American  Board,  the  Board  of  Mis¬ 
sions  of  the  Episcopal  Church,  the  Dutch  Reformed 
Board  and  the  Foreign  Mission  Board  of  the  Asso¬ 
ciate  Reformed  Presbyterian  Church  have  appointed 
Committees  to  co-operate  with  the  Movement. 

In  the  Northern  Baptist  Church,  the  Baptist  Broth¬ 
erhood  has  been  charged  with  the  responsibility  of  en¬ 
listing  the  men  of  the  church  in  its  missionary  opera¬ 
tions.  The  Anglican,  Baptist,  Congregational,  Meth¬ 
odist  and  Presbyterian  Churches  of  Canada  have  or¬ 
ganized  their  own  separate  Laymen’s  Missionary 
Movement,  each  with  its  own  secretary,  in  addition 
to  supporting  heartily  the  interdenominational  Move¬ 
ment,  which  also  has  a  General  Secretary  in  Canada. 
The  Annual  Conference  of  the  Foreign  Boards  of 
the  United  States  and  Canada,  including  forty-nine 
Societies  has  also  appointed  a  large  and  influential 
committee  to  co-operate  with  the  Movement. 

It  has  been  our  plan  from  the  beginning  to  work  in 
hearty  co-operation  with  the  Foreign  Missionary 
Boards.  Together  we  have  been  working  towards  a 
comprehensive  plan  looking  to  the  evangelization  of 
the  whole  non-Christian  world.  We  have  used  our 
influence  to  lead  the  various  denominations  to  define 
their  distinctive  foreign  missionary  responsibility,  and 
to  adopt  an  adequate  policy  for  the  reaching  of  their 
own  fields. 


The  Uprising-  of  Men  for  World  Conquest  13 


It  is  a  matter  of  profound  gratitude  that  so  many 
of  the  denominations  have  already  taken  official  action 
in  this  matter,  and  declared  themselves  responsible  for 
the  evangelization  of  the  following  numbers  in  non- 
Christian  countries: 


United  Presbyterians  .  15,000,000 

Southern  Presbyterians  .  25,000,000 

Northern  Presbyterians  .  100,000,000 

Northern  Baptists  .  61,000,000 

Southern  Methodists  .  40,000,000 

Northern  Methodists  .  150,000,000 

Congregationalists .  75,000,000 

Dutch  Reformed  .  13,000,000 

Reformed  Church  in  the  U.  S.  .  10,000,000 

Canadian  Societies  .  40,000,000 

United  Brethren  .  5,000,000 

Foreign  Christian  Miss.  Society  15,000,000 


Many  other  Churches  and  Societies  have  taken  pre¬ 
liminary  steps  toward  a  clear  definition  of  their  share 
of  missionary  responsibility  and  the  adoption  of  an 
adequate  policy  for  its  discharge. 

Fourth :  Canada :  In  some  respects  the  most  im¬ 
portant  work  that  has  been  accomplished  through  the 
Movement  has  been  in  Canada.  From  March  31st  to 
April  4th,  1909,  there  was  held  at  Toronto  a  Cana¬ 
dian  National  Congress  of  the  Laymen’s  Missionary 
Movement,  with  delegates  present  from  the  whole 
Dominion.  There  were  registered  as  commissioners 
over  2,500  laymen  and  1,500  ministers.  This  is  the 
first  time  in  modern  history  that  representative  men 
of  all  churches  of  a  nation  have  come  together  to  plan 
for  the  extension  of  Christ’s  Kingdom  in  the  whole 
world.  This  Congress  adopted  a  “National  Mission¬ 
ary  Policy,”  setting  forth  what  the  commissioners  be¬ 
lieved  to  be  the  nation’s  obligations,  and  this  policy 


14  The  Uprising  of  Men  for  World  Conquest 


has  since  received  the  formal  endorsements  of  practic¬ 
ally  all  official  Church  Conferences,  Synods  and  As¬ 
semblies  throughout  the  Dominion. 

The  communicant  membership  of  the  Canadian 
Churches  aggregates  about  900,000.  The  Congress 
voted  unanimously  to  accept  the  estimates  of  their 
missionary  leaders,  that  at  least  $1,300,000  annually 
should  be  contributed  toward  their  home  missionary 
work  and  $3,200,000  annually  to  foreign  missionary 
work.  It  is  of  interest  that  in  this  great  Congress 
the  delegates  paid  not  only  their  own  traveling  ex¬ 
penses,  but  also  registration  fees,  which  aggregated  a 
sufficient  amount  to  pay  all  the  expenses  of  the  Con¬ 
gress. 

Fifth.  The  Movement  has  not  been  confined  to  the 
United  States  and  Canada,  but  has  taken  root  in 
Great  Britain  and  Australia.  By  invitation  of  the 
various  British  Missionary  Societies,  a  deputation  of 
six  laymen  was  sent  to  London  in  May,  1907.  This 
deputation  was  received  officially  at  the  Bible  House 
in  London,  on  the  27th  of  May,  by  about  seventy-five 
men,  representing  the  various  British  missionary  so¬ 
cieties.  Mass  meetings  were  held  in  London,  Bristol, 
Sheffield,  Edinburgh  and  Liverpool.  In  the  latter  city 
there  were  1,800  present,  and  it  was  said  to  be  the 
largest  men’s  missionary  meeting  ever  held  in  that 
city.  Among  the  prominent  men  who  co-operated  in 
launching  the  Laymen’s  Missionary  Movement  in 
Great  Britain  were  the  following:  Lord  Guthrie,  Lord 
Kinnaird,  Lord  Overtoun,  The  Master  of  Polwarth, 
Sir  Andrew  Wingate,  Colonel  Williams,  Sir  John 
Kennaway,  Sir  Albert  Spicer,  Sir  Fowell  Buxton,  The 
Master  Cutler  of  Sheffield,  Sir  Mackworth  Young, 
Sir  Edwin  Russell,  The  Lord  Provost  of  Edinburgh, 
The  Lord  Mayor  of  Bristol,  The  Lord  Mayor  of  Liv¬ 
erpool,  and  the  Lord  Mayor  of  Sheffield.  The  Scot¬ 
tish  National  Committee  employs  Mr.  Kenneth  Mac- 


The  Uprising  of  Men  for  World  Conquest  15 


lennan,  of  Edinburgh,  as  General  Secretary  of  the 
Movement  In  Scotland. 

Repeated  and  urgent  requests  have  also  been  re¬ 
ceived  from  Australia  to  send  a  deputation  to  that 
country  and  we  are  glad  to  report  that  without  wait¬ 
ing  for  such  deputation  the  men  in  that  great  com¬ 
monwealth  are  organizing  substantially  on  our  plan. 
South  Africa  has  also  asked  for  a  Deputation  to  pre¬ 
sent  the  object  and  methods  of  the  Movement.  Fre¬ 
quent  requests  have  also  been  received  for  our  litera¬ 
ture  from  Germany.  The  Christian  world  seems  to  be 
ripe  everywhere  for  this  Movement. 

Sixth :  Financial  Gains.  The  best  single  illustration 
of  the  financial  results  of  the  Movement  in  one  de¬ 
nomination  is  probably  in  the  Southern  Presbyterian 
Church,  which  was  the  first  to  organize  its  own  sep¬ 
arate  Laymen’s  Missionary  Movement.  Three  years 
ago  the  total  contributions  of  that  church  to  foreign 
missions  were  $223,000.  The  next  year  they  increased 
to  $275,000.  The  next  year  to  $323,000.  Last  year 
they  reached  $412,000.  Forty-eight  of  the  individual 
churches  of  that  denomination  averaged  $4.00  per 
member  or  more  to  foreign  missions  last  year.  Of 
these  forty-eight  churches,  twenty-six  also  increased 
their  contributions  to  Home  Missions  last  year  and 
twenty-five  of  the  forty-eight  increased  their  pastors’ 
salaries.  These  forty-eight  churches  had  an  increase 
in  membership  twice  as  great  as  the  denomination  as 
a  whole  and  an  increase  in  the  total  contributions  of 
9  per  cent,  against  a  general  increase  of  contributions 
in  the  entire  denomination  of  less  than  1  per  cent.  “A 
missionary  awakening  means  a  revived  church.” 

The  best  illustration  of  the  increased  giving  to  mis¬ 
sions  in  a  large  city,  under  the  influence  of  the  Move¬ 
ment,  is  Toronto.  Mr.  N.  W.  Rowell,  K.  C.,  of  Tor- 
ronto,  the  Chairman  of  the  Canadian  Council  of  the 
Laymen’s  Movement,  makes  the  following  statement : 


1 6  The  Uprising  of  Men  for  World  Conquest 


“In  the  fall  of  1907  the  inspiration  of  the  Lay¬ 
men’s  Movement  came  to  us,  and  there  also  came  fi¬ 
nancial  depression  and  great  scarcity  of  money. 
Shrewd  observers  and  generous  contributors  said  if 
the  Movement  enables  us  to  hold  our  own  under  the 
adverse  financial  conditions  it  will  accomplish  much. 
What  has  been  the  result?  Let  me  illustrate  by  a  few 
of  the  Toronto  churches  in  which  the  Movement  has 
really  taken  hold  of  the  men : 


Year  ending  Year  ending 


Methodist. 

Jun,  30  ’7 

Jun.  30  ’9 

Metropolitan  Church  . 

.  .  $8,696 

$16,037 

Sherbourne  Street  . 

•  •  7.042 

15.759 

Central  Methodist  .  . . 

•  •  4.163 

13.250 

Carlton  Street  . .  .  . 

.  .  3,240 

S>532 

Anglican. 

1907-8 

1908-9 

St.  James  Cathedral  . 

St.  Paul’s  Church . 

•  •  $7,500 

$15,000 

•  •  5.400 

15,000 

St.  Simon’s  Church  . 

1,200 

4,000 

Church  of  the  Messiah. . 

200 

1,250 

Presbyterian. 

1907 

1908 

St.  James  Square  (always 

a 

$15,539 

strong  missionary  church)  . 

. .  .$12,000 

Bloor  Street  . 

. . .  7,000 

12,074 

Old  St.  Andrews  .  . . 

. . .  6,500 

12,588 

Chalmer’s  .  . . .  . .  .  . 

505 

1,518 

Dovercourt  Road  . . 

432 

i,3l8 

/  Baptist. 

1907 

1908 

Jarvis  St.  Church  . . . . . 

.$7,108.76 

$17,845.77 

Walmer  Road  . . . 

•  6,433.73 

13,015-33 

Dovercourt  Road  . 

.  1,461.64 

5,29i-25 

jOssington  Avenue  .  . . . 

244.07 

1,690.87 

The  Uprising  of  Men  for  World  Conquest  17 


‘‘It  is  interesting  to  note  the  result  throughout  the 
city  of  Toronto: 

June  30,  ’07  June  30,  ’09 


Methodist  . $53,397-45  $93,125.84 

1907  I9O8 

Presbyterian  . $46,332.00  $98,553.00 

Baptist  .  23,225.82  55.0o5-58 


Mr.  Rowell  further  says : 

“These  figures  are  not  the  result  of  a  special  appeal, 
but  indicate  a  permanent  increase  in  the  annual  con¬ 
tributions  due  to  the  adoption  of  more  systematic 
methods  of  missionary  finance,  such  as  the  weekly  of¬ 
fering  of  missions  and  the  new  standards  of  giving. 

“The  financial  results  are  the  least  important  in  this 
missionary  awakening.  There  has  come  to  the  men 
of  the  churches  where  the  Movement  has  gripped  them 
a  new  sense  of  both  privilege  and  responsibility  in 
Christian  work:  the  privilege  and  responsibility  of  be¬ 
ing  co-workers  together  with  Christ  in  the  work  of 
world-redemption ;  a  new  conception  of  stewardship 
that  involves  business  talents  as  well  as  possessions :  a 
new  consciousness  of  personal  relationship  to  Christ 
and  a  new  sense  of  loyalty  to  him.” 

One  of  the  Anglican  congregations  in  Quebec  City 
has  given  towards  the  new  Canadian  Mission  in  China 
some  six  thousand  dollars,  that  was  to  have  been  used 
in  purchasing  a  new  organ.  In  addition  to  this,  the 
Curate  of  the  same  church  has  volunteered  for  service 
in  the  foreign  fields. 

A  business  man  in  Chicago  has  given  $7,500  for  a 
campaign  of  education  among  the  Presbyterians  in  that 
state,  and  employed  a  traveling  salesman  to  organize 
the  campaign,  while  other  business  men  have  been  glad 
to  join  in  the  active  work.  In  the  different  cities 
where  meetings  have  been  held  by  the  Movement,  lead- 


18  The  Uprising  of  Men  for  World  Conquest 


ing  men  who  have  been  previously  opposed  to  foreign 
missions,  have  been  so  impressed  that  they  have  ex¬ 
pressed  their  regret  for  their  former  opposition,  and 
are  giving  themselves  without  reserve  to  retrieve  their 
past  neglect. 

Although  the  Movement  came  into  being  less  than 
three  years  ago,  the  giving  of  our  churches  has  stead¬ 
ily  increased,  and  it  is  believed  that  much  of  this 
increase  can  be  traced  directly  to  the  influence  of  this 
Movement. 

In  the  statistics  for  the  last  fiscal  years  published  in 
January,  1909,  showing  the  receipts  for  Foreign  Mis¬ 
sions  from  the  Protestant  churches,  the  contribu¬ 
tions  of  Great  Britain  decreased  $96,000,  and  the  gifts 
of  other  Christian  countries  decreased  $120,000.  In 
the  United  States  and  Canada  on  the  contrary,  where 
the  Laymen’s  Movement  has  been  especially  active,  the 
gifts  increased  $602,000  over  those  of  the  previous 
year. 

Surely  we  can  see  God’s  hand  in  this  work  and  there 
are  increasing  indications  that  the  churches  have  to¬ 
gether  entered  upon  the  greatest  missionary  movement 
of  the  ages.  Christ’s  prayer  for  unity  is  being  an¬ 
swered  and  that  unity  is  being  made  practical  and 
definite  in  common  service.  We  are  learning  rapidly 
that  if  we  want  to  think  and  act  in  Christ’s  way,  we 
must  think  and  act  with  the  whole  world  in  view.  In 
this  Movement  all  minor  differences  have  been  for¬ 
gotten  and  we  are  united  in  a  common  work.  We  are 
beginning  to  recognize  as  never  before  the  solidarity 
of  the  race ;  that  our  world  is  one  home ;  that  we  are 
the  children  of  one  Father,  that  the  barriers  are  now 
down  and  that  it  is  possible  to  reach  all  our  Father’s 
children  throughout  the  whole  world.  It  has  been 
well  said,  “The  nineteenth  century  made  the  world  one 
neighborhood,  the  twentieth  should  make  it  one 
brotherhood.” 


The  Uprising  of  Men  for  World  Conquest  19 


It  is  a  propitious  moment  for  this  uprising  of  men 
for  the  conquest  of  the  world.  Hundreds  of  millions 
in  Asia  have  caught  a  vision  of  liberty  and  self-gov¬ 
ernment  and  in  some  measure  the  meaning  of  Broth¬ 
erhood.  The  whole  world  is  becoming  more  and 
more  unified.  The  East  and  the  West  are  touching 
each  other  politically,  commercially,  and  socially  as 
never  before.  Men  are  beginning  to  think  interna¬ 
tionally  and  continentally.  There  is  a  new  peril  in  all 
this  unless  the  whole  world  shall  quickly  learn  the 
Fatherhood  of  God  as  revealed  in  the  face  of  Jesus 
Christ.  Bishop  Brent  has  said:  “Now  is  the  time  for 
the  West  to  implant  its  ideals  in  the  Orient  in  such 
fashion  as  to  minimize  the  chance  of  a  dreadful  future 
clash  betwen  two  radically  different  and  hostile  civiliz¬ 
ations;  if  we  wait  until  to-morrow  we  may  find  that 
we  have  waited  too  long.” 

And  let  us  listen  as  we  have  not  before  to  the  call 
from  the  front  from  those  who  are  out  on  the  firing 
line  as  our  representatives.  When  Jesus  wrought  in 
Galilee,  crowds  pressed  so  hard  upon  Him  that  often 
He  had  no  time  to  eat  or  sleep.  These  same  condi¬ 
tions  exist  to-day  in  the  lives  of  many  of  our  mis¬ 
sionaries  in  the  far  East.  When  they  know  of  the 
wealth  of  the  home-land  and  the  small  response  to 
their  appeals,  they  are  often  heart-broken.  It  is  the 
hardest  of  all  the  burdens  they  have  to  carry,  thus  to 
be  sent  to  the  front  and  then  seemingly  ofttimes  neg¬ 
lected  and  by  many  forgotten.  They  know  of  the  cost¬ 
ly  buildings  at  home  and  the  personal  luxury.  They 
see  all  this  during  their  furlough  and  they  hear  of  it 
from  others.  No  wonder  they  break  down  under  this 
load  of  neglect.  It  is  an  extravagant  policy  to  fit  and 
train  men  as  we  do  for  years  and  then  kill  them  by 
overwork  for  want  of  needed  help.  All  our  mission 
boards  have  outgrown  their  finances  because  they  have 
not  outgrown  their  opportunities  and  their  progress. 


20  The  Uprising  of  Men  for  World  Conquest 


It  has  been  said  that  “we  need  a  moral  equivalent 
for  war”  Foreign  missions  gives  us  that  equivalent, 
in  its  spirit  of  conquest  and  in  the  courage  and  sacri¬ 
fice  it  calls  forth.  We  want  to  mobilize  the  men  of 
to-day  for  the  last  great  struggle.  Our  times  are  for 
“big”  things.  We  are  coming  to  a  “big”  time  in  mis¬ 
sions,  for  the  time  of  formal  praying  and  petty  giving 
is  about  over.  The  day  of  great  consecration  and  self- 
sacrifice  is  at  hand.  W e  want  to  put  ourselves  and  all 
we  have  and  are  into  this  men’s  movement.  It  is  a 
“man’s  job”  to  organize  and  finance  the  evangelization 
of  a  thousand  millions  of  people.  We  have  been  send¬ 
ing  out  single  pickets  and  little  groups  of  missionaries 
long  enough.  We  want  to  call  out  the  reserves  now 
for  the  final  struggle  which  will  make  our  Christ  the 
universal  king.  In  the  words  of  Napoleon,  “The 
secret  of  victory  is  to  bring  up  the  reserves  when  the 
struggle  is  at  a  crisis.”  This  is  no  dress  parade,  but 
for  men  in  fatigue  uniform  who  will  fight  until  the 
finish,  and  until  the  Cross  of  Christ  is  planted  in  the 
darkest  corner  of  the  earth. 


Missionary  Literature  for  Men 


(B)  1. 

(A)  2. 


Samuel  B.  Capen 


(A) 
(C) 
(C) 

(B) 

(C) 
(C) 
(C) 


3. 

4. 

5. 

6. 

7. 

8. 

9. 


(C)  10. 
(B)  11. 
(B)  12. 
(B)  13. 

(B)  14. 

(C)  15. 


The  Uprising  of  Men  for  World  Conquest, 

The  Genesis  and  Significance  of  the 
Laymen’s  Missionary  Movement, 

Missions  and  Civilization, 

Our  Share  of  the  World, 

The  World’s  Debt  to  the  Missionary, 

The  Awakening  Orient, 

“On  the  Square”, 

Methods  of  Enlisting  Men  in  Missions, 

Personal  Impressions  Regarding  Missions.  Dr.  L.  Duncan  Bulkley 
Around  the  World,  Condensed  Report  of  Laymen’s  Commission 


J.  Campbell  White 
Hon.  Wm.  H.  Taft 
J.  Campbell  White 
Robert  E.  Speer 
Robert  E.  Speer 
John  Timothy  Stone 
J.  Campbell  White 


Robert  E.  Speer 
Silas  McBee 
By  Public  Men 
S.  M.  Zwemer,  F.R.G.S. 


Foreign  Missions  and  Christian  Unity, 

The  Layman  in  Missionary  Work, 

Testimonies  on  Foreign  Missions, 

The  Moslem  Problem  and  Peril, 

Modern  Hinduism ; 

Does  It  Meet  the  Need  of  India? 

(A)  16.  The  Stewardship  of  Life, 

Joseph  N.  Shenstone  and  J.  Campbell  White 

(A)  17.  What  BusinessHas  a  Business  Man  with  Foreign  Missions  ? 

S.  M.  Zwemer,  F.R.G.S. 


Rev.  John  P.  Jones,  D.  D. 


(C)  18. 
(C)  19. 
(C)  20. 

(C)  21. 
(C)  22. 
(C)  23. 
(C)  24. 
(C)  25. 
(B)  26. 


The  Urgency  and  Crisis  in  the  Far  East, 

The  Non-Christian  Religions  Inadequate, 
Modern  World  Movements; 

God’s  Challenge  to  the  Church, 

The  Place  of  Missions  in  the  Thought  of  God, 
The  Opportunity  of  the  Hour, 

The  Supreme  Business  of  the  Church, 

Prayer  for  Missions, 

The  Great  Commission, 

The  Haystack  Prayer  Meeting, 


John  R.  Mott 
Robert  E.  Speer 

John  R.  Mott 
Robert  E.  Speer 
George  Sherwood  Eddy 
Rev.  George  Robson,  D.D. 
Professor  Warneck 
Robert  E.  Speer 
Edward  Warren  Capen 


25  and  50  Cent  Packets  of  Pamphlets 

Packet  of  first  ten  pamphlets  25c 

Packet  of  first  twenty  pamphlets  50c 
Any  single  pamphlet .  5c 


Pamphlets  marked  (A)  25c  per  doz. 
“  “  (B)  30c  “ 

“  “  (C)  40c  “ 


1.50  per  hundred,  postpaid 
2.00 

2.50 


Special  discounts  when  pamphlets  are  shipped  in  thousand  lots  to  one 
address.  Price  per  100  only  allowed  when  100  or  more  of  one  pi  ice  are  ordered. 

“The  Uprising  of  Men,”  *  Our  Share  of  the  World”  and  “Methods  of 
Enlisting  Men  in  Missions  ”  may  be  had  in  German. 

LAYMEN’S  MISSIONARY  MOVEMENT 

1  Madison  Avenue.  New  York 


